As much as I think (along with everyone else) that Foulkes is a despicable old git,

I still get a very uncomfortable feeling about all the “charity workers” picked up in Afghanistan when their only reason for being there is to care for the sick and dispossessed,

I knew a woman from my home town (long since dead) who was caught hiding in a wardrobe in a house in Madrid in 1938 by royalist elements of the Franco regime and held for over a year, she was eventually released due to lack of evidence and her papers confirmed she had indeed entered Spain to assist a medical team as a trained nurse to tend to the wounded on both sides, meanwhile her “bolt action Hypo” may well still be hidden behind that wardrobe to this day for all anyone knows.

I hope Mr Aamed is an innocent man, (he has a winning smile)but who knows.

The Media certainly fell for Blair/Brown lies. Trying to hide their lies under the Offcial Secrets Act. The Chilcot Report now 5 years late. The crooks who bankrupt Britain now being given ‘Honours’ and swanning around the world leading £Millionaire lifestyles. They should be put in jail for the deaths and misery they caused. They are a disgrace. Westminster criminals.

having been to and seen most of Scotland in my many years of holidaying up in the wilds..I can honestly say I have never been to or heard of Roulanish.Could someone inform me exactly where it is.
It is important enough to be claimed by our esteemed lord darling so I imagine it is something like him…not worth a @~%%.

It is my understanding that @A_LordDarling Twitter account is a spoof, one that plays very close to the wind at times and seems to be constantly mistaken for the ‘real thing’. Which probably speaks volumes about the ‘real thing’.

I could be wrong, but then would it be so bad if we simply treated all Labour utterances as those from a spoof party?

Quick shout out for the much maligned National. Today sees the paper expand by eight pages, more articles, opinion,readers input, history and sport.Absolutely first class, it really has stepped up a gear.

Foulkes is just another English public school, upper-class, out of touch, posh twit who thinks he knows what’s best for the people of Scotland. Probably sent to infiltrate Labour along with his posh, privately educated, tory chums Darling and Blair to ensure the UK continues to support right-wing American foreign and economic policy.

Jackie Bailey is another. Labour is awash with them. They are superior to the rest of us, don’t you know.

Foulkes was huge supporter of Tony Blair & his rush to war in 2003. Now we are waiting for Chilcott. Is this the start of discrediting Shaker Aamer because he has a story to tell which doesn’t accord with the official line? I think so & we’d do well to listen.

Foulkes may be a pish artist but he’s also a useful idiot for Blairites & costs us £300 a day.

Thankfully he blocked me so I no longer have to see his dribblings.

Caroline is correct-that is the parody account for Darling.I tend to ignore it as it is too close to being supportive of the man at times.

I don’t mind the idea the media should as tough questions about this affair: Both to uk/us governments and to Mr Aamer…there’s a huge story here and people should know about it.

However, Foulkes is an idiot and any sensible Labour person would take away his computer. He was never charged/tried so in law he is innocent. Even if he was some high profile terrorist mastermind…14 years of sustained torture didn’t get a confession, does Lord Soak really think Paxman will break him in 10 minutes?

Laughable!

I wish Mr. Aamer and his family a safe and happy life where the horrors of Guantanamo can be confined to the bin

I have friends in charity organisations who travel to all parts of the world,especially areas considered dangerous through conflict.
It is part of the job,and they know and accept this More often than not they are welcomed, and not arrested and kept captive for 14 years,whilst being abused physically and mentally.

People could rightly demand that all charity workers are kept to within the geographical area of their birth rather than go to dangerous places where want ,and deprivation and suffering are truly rampant.
Workers from the UK and other countries have given their lives,.
What have people like Foulkes given? Nothing.

Why did the UK/US bomb the Middle East to bits for the last 100 years. Causing chaos in the World. Secretly and illegally taking countries assets. Supporting Apartheud regimes, denying peope the vote. Killing maiming and lying. Hiding their crimes under the Official Secrets Act to line their and their associates pockets, while peope are starved and dying. Westminster criminals are despicable. They have destroyed the world economy and made the world an unsafe place. People once lived in relative peace. The UK/US and France are responsible for it.

Cameron is a danger to society. A complete crook who makes peope’s lives harder.Westminster has created the biggest immigration crisis in Europe since 11WW. Other European countries are having to cope with it. Cameron is running around Europe like a lunatic while illegally bombing. A complete liar. Putting up the debt.

I have friends who took themselves and their teenage children to “hot” zones. I think you should try to understand that many families who do this type of work are utterly committed to that cause. It is not part time,but rather is the focus of their existence,and the glue that holds them together.

You cannot understand how strong that belief can be if you have never experienced it yourself.
Try not to judge the actions of others against your own values.You may well come up short.

“Try not to judge the actions of others against your own values.You may well come up short.”

Whose values do you judge actions by?

If I were a “charity worker” ( Do you know what kind of work Mr Aamer was doing? He’s not a medic as far as I know. What was it exactly?),I would hesitate to go to Afghanistan under the Taliban. Wouldn’t you have?

That someone would take their children with them to go and work in Afghanistan under the Taliban , when the nature of that regime was clear to everyone, seems an extraordinary decision to me. There is no suggestion, is there, that he was going to do work with the victims of the Taliban rule is there? Was he supportive of the regime while there and was that why he felt secure enough to take his family with him?

None of the questions I have posed here has been answered. Do you want to attempt them Bob?

Pete McCulloch
The worrying thing is they seem to believe it. I saw J Mcdonell tweeted last night ( in response to N Sturgeon on Bloomberg , saying Scotland’s economy isn’t dependent on oil) ” no its dependent on Barnett”.

So all us slackers, who produce nothing , sell nothing , buy nothing , contribute nothing, just lie about the place , enjoying the weather , waiting for the largesse of Barnett carry on , a big Labour MP from Westminster says it so it must be true .

Brit in space? Wonder if it was Scot in space we would have the nawbags screaming “he’s too wee too poor too stupid, he cannae dae it he needs the broad shoulders…,the EU willnae allow it,he cannae use OUR currency in space,he cannae watch the BBC,Obama says no way,there’s border guards in space he’ll no be allowed,the aliens willnae deal wi him and will up their prices,Scottish ship? It’s shite, the nasty nats built it wi chinese steel,the oil will run oot oan the spaceship, we’re all dooooommmmeeeeddd!”

Kinda tells you why no second crossing was EVER going to be built by his administration right there. Short-termism, lack of imagination and no intent to grow an economy or invest in future infrastructure. A politician married to Westminster knows best.

And his explanation for £1.5tr of debt and austerity ideology being enacted upon the electorate is….?

If I decided to leave my house right this minute and kill the first person I saw then I would probably be given life imprisonment following being charged , questioned, and tried in court
With good behaviour I could spend nine years in prison integrated with others watching TV, having visitors, before being eligible for parole.This is for deliberate intended murder.

I would not be arrested and held without any evidence whether it be circumstancial, or concrete proof. I would not be tortured for years on end to confess and transported across the globe to be waterboarded ,deprived of sleep,nor isolated from family, or indeed any human contact in order to break my will and remove my right of being innocent until PROVED guilty.

Of course these unionists believe it, because they don’t have any credible arguments for retaining this bankrupt union.

they can hardly say to the people of Scotland, the union has impoverished you and your Country, but we still believe we should remain in the union as we are bettertogether even if that means are further impoverished.

Mr McDonnel is another one who comes across as ignorant and incapable of grasping the truth. Perhaps he could tell us how well old England is doing at present, what’s the debt again?
Goodness me there seems to be an awful lot of spiteful short sighted politicians.

As I did not see any footage of Nicola going into No10 last evening, does anyone know if the door was closed in her face. A friend tells me that is what it looked like to her.

Anyhow the second lot of links posted directly after first lot at 8.15 approx have not appeared. Hoping they show up later.

AndyB have you not listened to the radio or watched any of the interviews with Mr. Aamer ? He has answered those questions, although how reliable any answer can be after 14 years of ‘treatment’ is questionable.

But AndyB you have stirred my curiosity, you seem to be implying there are answers to your three questions that
would be a justification for detention without charge
or trial, for torture, for inhumane abuse.

The Oil sector has been ruined by Westminster tax regime. 50% take of production + 25% taxes. = 75%. Thousands of jobs and revenues have been lost in Scotland /UK. More Oil & Gas has to be
imported putting up the balance of payments deficit and the Debt.

Scotland could cut Oil tax take and gain £Billions. Cut Trident/illegal wars, invest in Renewables, put a tax in ‘loss leading’ drink & sugar, develop Oil on the West. Not pay debt repayments on money it doesn’t borrow or spend. Scotland would be £Billions better off. Westminster has taken £Billions out of Scotland. Illegally and secretly hidden it under the Official Secrets Act. They are criminals. Child abusers, fraudster, embezzlers, mass murderers, liars and greedy thieves.

Re Mr. McDonnel. Keep it up sir. The more you insult us the better. Your Scottish colleagues never stopped. Check out the state of your party up here now. Calling us dependant scroungers merely helped to move the 45% to now probably 50%.
So Labour lads and lassies, don’t stop now. Please.

Ken500 asks, “Why did the UK/US bomb the Middle East to bits for the last 100 years?”
Well, it wasn’t the Union that made them do it, was it? Maybe the lousy, greedy, destructive, profit-mongering economic system we choose to keep living under has something to do with it. Capitalism is our enemy, not the Union.

Must remember reading glasses, not the driving goggles when catching up on the news. 😀 LOL

Apologies to Mr McConnell.

Not surprised though at the lack of empathy or the sheer insensitivity in Mr McDonnell’s tweet. He strikes me as being as clued up on Scottish affairs as Mr Corbyn with half the political sense. After his wee red book escapade backfired spectacularly, you’d think he’d be keeping his head down for the next wee while. (shrugs)

Well, it wasn’t the Union that made them do it, was it? Maybe the lousy, greedy, destructive, profit-mongering economic system we choose to keep living under has something to do with it. Capitalism is our enemy, not the Union.

UNQUOTE

Perhaps on the 18th Sep 2014 had we voted YES we would not now be living under that system.

Capitalism works Wil, youre thinking of imperialism, UKOK imperialism that tells all our imperial masters/red and blue toryboy wet farts today that they have the god given right to drop bombs in hot places, that can never strike back, can they Wil?

Westminster Unionist politicians have illegality bombed the Middle East to bits. Scotland vote in Westminster is irrelevant – outvoted 10 to 1. Westminster has been breaking the Laws that they make since 1928 and before. The Union was responsible for Rule of Law in Scotland until 2000. Breaking the terms of the Act of Union that Scotland would be treated equally. Lying,cheating illegally breaking the Ministerial Code, elected by a minority. Westminster Unionist politicians are despicable liars. So are their apologists.

‘Thing is he’s not even going to be the first Brit on the International Space Station, Mike Foale was.’

I just watched the launch live with my wee boy. You’d have thought they could have invested in a zoom lens for their camera. Anyway, the caption running underneath the picture said “the first publicly-funded UK astronaut to visit the ISS”.

WOW.

I wonder what Scotland’s share of the debt interest will be on that wee jaunt?

What challenge should HM loyal propaganda corps make of mr Aamer’s situation?

Why could the good old US of A not come up (even made up) with the slightest evidence against mr Aamer after 14 years of American and English torture, mental, physical and emotional?

Why do some people think there is obviously something fishy here? Where is the evidence? But the mighty USA & Honest John Bull wouldn’t give this man “residence” on a idyllic Carribean island for 14 years if he didn’t deserve it. You wouldn’t get Uncle Sam & John Bull playing unfair!

The very same people who think anybody who doesn’t agree with them are conspiracy theorists.

Ken500: “Unionists politicians lied and cheated to win a a referendum and an election.”

Sad to say, a great many were Scottish, some with hidden investments in Scotland they wanted to protect though they live and work in London, but many more ordinary folk in jobs of influence such as journalists. Getting them to see the light might need a red hot poker where it burns because lying is second nature to them.

As straightforward, honest, and non partisan piece as one would expect from Sev in the guardian re Scottish governemnt debt. As Stu points out on twitter, £22billion of historic PFI debt incurred by slab doesn’t fit the narrative and is simply ignored in a kind of half assed jedi mind trick.

These are not the statistics you are looking for (waves hand)

Reading some of the comments is a right old laugh.

“We need to impose independence on the Scots so they can pay their own debts.”

“Cut the place adrift and let them eat grass.”

“The problem with Scotland is that its full of Scots.”

“Can we let the Jocks go independent now and take their debt mountain with them??”

Can we shake on that now before you change your mind?

(PS I just chucked the wee braveheart quote in their for a laugh of course… Edward I would have found plenty of kindred spirits on the guardian website)

Psychological testing should be carried out on all politicians in this country to ascertain if they’re fit for purpose, starting with Foulkes. He fervently supported the invasion of Iraq and is still a key supporter of Blairs actions. He should be challenged and asked if he was aware of the U K being involved in extra-ordinary rendition and torture (he must have known so with positions he held) and if so why did he not report as such.

Nana thanks for the great links in particular in relation to fracking, Cameron (Syria / power of the CorpMedia) and the Dunblane affair. I’ve been delving into the latter issue for years now and it’s high time the lid was lifted on this. Who exactly, and how many, are they covering up for? Stands to reason they, such as Straw, have a great deal to hide in trying to bury it for 100 years under the Official Secrets Act. Data that has been released totally ineligible or redacted. I’ve got a (long) list of names of those who’ve blocked access to information in particular Scottish politicians, police and judges. Unable to post here at this time. Interesting links there too.

14 years detention without charge or trial, either the rule of law dominates how we behave or it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, those who wish to destroy our civilized way of life win.

Do they understand that denying human rights to your prisoner is a war crime, and then you become that which you say you despise!
The American government claimed that the facility was not covered by the Geneva Conventions protecting prisoners of war as the detainees were “enemy Combatants” so by making up a designation that allows you to abuse the rule of law?, interesting concept.
I think I will call the tax I pay “Devils Blood” and refused to pay it, after all who wants to support the devil?

“It wasn’t an official charity as documented. No, it was our own way of helping that society. By doing our own things that we know we are good at. Especially, when we know that they need these things. And when you know how much it costs just to open a school, it’s nothing. It’s very little.”

He went with an unofficial charity to set up a girls school
In Afghanistan under the Taliban ?

‘In 1981, he drafted a political bill called the “Control of Space Invaders (and other Electronic Games) Bill” in an attempt to ban the game for its “addictive properties” and for causing “deviancy”. The bill was debated and only narrowly defeated in parliament by 114 votes to 94 votes.’

A separate Financial Times story shows how a major Bakken player is slashing capital expenditures (which has ramifications for his suppliers and his employment level) but plans to produce more from fewer wells:

Continental Resources, one of the largest oil producers in the Bakken field in North Dakota which has been at the centre of the US shale resurgence, has cut its 2015 capital spending plans for the second time and intends to reduce the number of rigs it has operating by nearly 40 per cent….

Continental said late on Monday that it planned to spend $2.7bn on wells and other investment next year — down significantly from its previous plan of $4.6bn, which in turn was a reduction from its original target of $5.2bn.

It added that it expected to cut the number of drilling rigs it was using from about 50 today to an average of 31 for next year.

The company also said it expected to be able to cut the cost of its wells by about 15 to 20 per cent.

In spite of the planned fall in its capital spending, however, Continental still expects its average production next year to be 16-20 per cent higher than its average for 2014.

Notice that Continental plans to stay at cash flow breakeven:

Mr Hamm told the Financial Times the cut was intended to bring Continental’s capital spending “pretty close” to its cash flow from operations, so that it would not have to increase its borrowings.

But since shale wells show sharp production declines after the first two years, Hamm’s “do more with less” strategy looks to be a clever short-term expedient. He can’t afford to cut development for too long, or else his production in a year or a bit more will start to taper off.”

If OPEC win, shale oil production probably wont happen here, unless UK.gov piles in with all those multi billion quid subsidies, because toryboys are so green now.

Severin Carrell is someone i wouldnt trust to tell me the time in a roomful of clocks. Bought and paid for Scotchbrit corpohack of the lowest order no wonder he rights for that pretendy leftist english sh1trag The Guardian.

I think all of us who have been around since the time of Dunblane shootings have questions on who knew what and why have documents been buried for so long. The whole thing stinks and will continue to stink. Sordid politicians up to the armpits in a cover up.

I have my own thoughts regarding the guilty and no doubt once those who were involved are dead then all will be revealed as seems to be the case with the filthy child abusers linked to Westminster. Saville being just one.

I reckon that Foulkes and McDonnell have a lot in common. Nasty and deluded the pair of them. Living in the past.

McDonnell just confirms what I already believed about Corbyn’s new politics. Let no-one make any mistake, Corbyn and his chums are just old Slab writ large. They do not and never will value Scotland and we must resist all attempts by their apologists to get us to view them as somehow being different and better.

They are cynical in the truest meaning of the word and contemptuous of any idea that there is a better way.

“I think it is insane that the UK government hasn’t made clear [on] any future borrowing by the Scottish government and the institutions that belong to it, who the creating authority is [for that borrowing], who has the liabilities and in the event of default, whose responsibility it is.”

If that is the case then it must follow that Scotland is not responsible for the UK debt which will arise when Scotland gets more power.??

From main article:-“I know he’s a figure of comedy and pity, but this is something else.”
Don’t be too hard on him Wings Over Scotland,Baron Foulkes is after all a member of the Scottish Labour Party,and his boss is Kezia Dugdale MSP—-as are all the other Scottish Labour Parliamentarians at Westminster. 🙂

The Guardian getting its retaliation in first, and trying to shape the media response to the budget statement.

Remember that UK debt is 80% of gdp and government spending is 40% of gdp. So, Scotland looks like the UK. And also that even if Scottish graduates’ debt has increased, it is not student fee debt. I’d estimate the debt per student in Scotland at about half of the level in England and Wales.

Rather that say that there’s nothing here, I do think that there are two important points in all of this. It would be good if Scottish universities were able to improve their offer to poorer students. And do we really object to the idea that there should be greater clarity about the use of debt finance to fund public projects? I’ll be interested to see the more complete taking apart of the Guardian’s case that will soon appear on this site, and especially if it can identify any nuggets of truth within the tornado of spin.

Unionist journalists are liars. They lie for any payment. Charlatans. They can’t count and don’t understand elementary Maths. They don’t know how to read a balance sheet. Most work for tax evading Non Doms. Or printing groups who rely on Westminster contracts. Thatcher broke the Ministerial Code, lied about it and hand the Press over to the Right wing. The Criminal tax evader Murdoch, who bribed public officials, hacked phone and was responsible fo putting innocent people in prison.

Without a free and balanced Press there is no democracy. Westminster uses the Official Secrets Act to threaten the Press in the UK. ‘D’ notices.

Andrew MacLean: “what this chap was doing in bloody Afghanistan supporting the Taliban?”

There’s Taliban and there’s Taliban.

The myth that there’s one single entity, a terrorist fighting force, is American propaganda. There are any number of tribes, some live in mountains communities, some in the plains. There are real differences between each other, some are for US intervention, some decidedly not.

What Taliban have always been known for is fierce territorial pride, which is why some fight each other, and some the imperialist USA.

That said, despite their worse GE since 1865, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Tories prove to be more resilient than collapsing Labour. Tories in Scotland aren’t in the chaotic state of the other Unionists.

Also, why would a hardcore ScotchBrit vote for one of the other flavours of Tory, when they can opt for the real thing? I could imagine the wagons being circled round the Tories as the last bastion of Unionism.

You may well have a point. How pathetic & bitter would a labour voter have to be in order to vote for a tory. Would they really do it just to spite the SNP knowing the tory policies are so cruel and divisive.

Ferocious hypocrisy The Graun/Carrell style is probably only chasing advertising dosh, which reflects Snatcher Thatcher England/UK, in that middle and upper middle class England what we know and love, have all the UKOK money and all the spend power. And same classes know Scottish independence may not be so good for their country.

Will Scotland affect my house price?!

eg

Ex The Graun editor Rebel Rusbridger now safely tucked into his top Oxbridge job but him and Graun get a lovely puff here, as his old goonshow tries desperately to stamp out Scottish democracy

“In his manifesto, Rusbridger expressed his desire to change the image of the Guardian as a left-wing newspaper.

“I tried to make sure the reporting was straight,” he told me, while weeding out the “mix of reporting and opinion” and the habit of “telling people what to think.”

The editorial page would no longer automatically support the Labour Party. “I saw opportunity and space in the middle left,” Rusbridger said. The shift fit his own outlook.

His friend Henry Porter says, “His basic stance is skepticism.” David Leigh thinks of his brother-in-law as “genuinely moderate. From an American point of view, he is very left. From a British point of view, he is not.”

Ferocious hypocrisy The Graun/Carrell style is probably only chasing advertising dosh, which reflects Snatcher Thatcher England/UK, in that middle and upper middle class England what we know and love, have all the UKOK money and all the spend power. And same classes know Scottish independence may not be so good for their country.

Will Scotland affect my house price?!

eg

Ex The Graun editor Rebel Rusbridger now safely tucked into his top Oxbridge job but him and Graun get a lovely puff here, as his old goonshow tries desperately to stamp out Scottish democracy

“In his manifesto, Rusbridger expressed his desire to change the image of the Guardian as a left-wing newspaper.

“I tried to make sure the reporting was straight,” he told me, while weeding out the “mix of reporting and opinion” and the habit of “telling people what to think.”

The editorial page would no longer automatically support the Labour Party. “I saw opportunity and space in the middle left,” Rusbridger said. The shift fit his own outlook.

His friend Henry Porter says, “His basic stance is skepticism.” David Leigh thinks of his brother-in-law as “genuinely moderate. From an American point of view, he is very left. From a British point of view, he is not.”

@Lesley-Anne
It’s a parody account called ‘British’ First that started the poll who are –
“Camping against the Aslanification of the U.K, The Kerrang and the building of Super Molluscs. Standing up for Brian!”

On the ball as usual. Eyes wide open and keeping the rest of us informed. Yer some gal!

There are many questions about Thomas Hamilton, Dunblane and QVS that remain unanswered and un-investigated. It stinks of political manure and Gordon Brown is right in the frame there. I’m sure that’s why much of what is known has been buried for a long, long time.

The whole WM paedophilia thing isn’t just in London, Wales and Belfast. It extends right into the heart of the Scottish establishment too. Unfortunately it seems we don’t have any investigative journalists who are prepared to try and crack that nut.

“We need to impose independence on the Scots so they can pay their own debts.”

“Cut the place adrift and let them eat grass.”

“The problem with Scotland is that its full of Scots.”

“Can we let the Jocks go independent now and take their debt mountain with them??”

Isn’t there some Machiavellian pro indy person with the know-how, resources and contacts somewhere in the political space who could engineer or contrive some meme or other which takes off big time whereby the English masses are led to start clamouring for Westminster to kick us out of their glorious union? After all we only survive up here because of their selfless generosity.

Would be fun watching their owners try to spin their way out of that one. However if it really took off how could they? What would be even more entertaining would be the reaction of Scottish nawbags.

Also just recently occurred to me that I’ve never heard or read about Alex Salmond or Nicola asking the direct question to some idiot media churnalist: If England subsidises Scotland then would England not be better off without Scotland in the union?

Aye, nice person George… reminds me of when I met him to talk about the unfairness of having to pay tax on travelling expenses when large firms didn’t – and a couple of weeks later having two tax inspectors land on my doorstep.

Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.